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School. The boy’s outhouse has four doors and the girl’s outhouse has
three doors. I asked him why the different number of doors between the
boys and girls, and he proceeds to say, “You know, I never questioned
it, I have no idea!” Later an addition was added giving the Sister’s a
bathroom to share, this was sometime between 1911 and 1912. In one
of the far rooms stood a wooden type of rack that had tiny metal hooks
on the top and several small metal trays. He tells me that the children
who boarded here would have used this to wash up with. It would’ve
held basins of water, and their soap sat on the trays and on top where
the small hooks were, is where they would’ve hung their wash clothes. In
the next room over the only items present are two very small metal beds
with springs. Ryan would comment on these on our drive home as we
shared back and forth all we saw and had learned from our tour guides.
“Did you see those two small beds on the second floor, he asked me.” I
have never seen a bed so small in my life” he continues with excitement.
My tour guide and I continue up the stairs to the third floor which is
in rough shape. There is water damage on the ceilings due to the aging
roof and plaster falling off the walls in many spots. My tour guide states
that it has been very costly to try and make repairs to keep the Convent
School from falling apart any more that it has already. Down the back
staircase he leads me, and back to the main floor and entry way where
we meet up with his sister and Ryan. The Convent School was closed
in 1963 due to hard times and it couldn’t meet the fire safety codes. The
St. Mary’s Convent School is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places and is privately owned. I never got the name of this gentleman,
but we thanked him and his sister for humoring us with their stories and
sharing the history with us.
The next time you take a trip and are headed to Aberdeen, get out a
map and locate the directions to Zell, just to see the historical place even
if it’s just from the outside is worth the trip!! n
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